Spotlight: Phil Dorn, 9/23/16

Phil Dorn grew up in Columbus Ohio and enjoyed some pretty special mentors as a football player.

His high school coach ended up in the state Hall of Fame and his college coach in the NCAA Hall of Fame,

Dorn's ride at Wittenburg University included two trips to the division three national championship game.

He jumped into coaching after college, first at Columbus area high schools, but in 1991 he landed a coveted graduate assistant spot at the University of Michigan.

He spent most of the next decade coaching on the college level. In the early 2000s he was the assistant head coach at Cincinnati, but in 2006 Dorn jumped back to the high school level as head coach and athletic director at Bishop Verot in Fort Myers.

Eight years there followed by a return to college as offensive coordinator at Alabama A&M. His 34 years of coaching are evenly split between high school and college.

Just so happened Phil Dorn was looking to get back to the high school level and Fort Walton was just the kind of community he wanted. One with resources and hungry to rise.

Hard times hit another low in June after Tommy Johnson was forced to resign because of a teacher certification issue.

In stepped Dorn, but taking over in July made things especially challenging.

Kenyon Redmon is a great example. The junior running back scored five touchdowns in the Vikings week four win over Rutherford.

Quarterback Brendon Carter is another. Slated to be the backup until incumbent Brady Ooten transferred to rival Choctaw after Coach Johnson left.

Carter is making the most of dorn's clean slate.

Throughout four games the Vikings two wins match their victory totals from the previous two seasons combined. It's brought some good vibes they haven't felt for a while.